In a modern retail store environment, there is a need to improve the customer experience and/or convenience for the customer. With increasing competition from non-traditional shopping mechanisms, such as online shopping provided by e-commerce merchants and alternative store formats, it can be important for “brick and mortar” retailers to focus on improving the overall customer experience and/or convenience.
Some retailers permit a consumer to select a particular item online and to then arrange to pick up that item at a bricks-and-mortar shopping facility for that retailer. Such an approach is attractive to many consumers who prefer browsing product selections in a virtual environment. Ensuring that the selected item is suitably available at the shopping facility in a manner that is both efficient and convenient for pickup by the consumer, however, presents numerous challenges. These challenges include a need for additional in-store associates and corresponding support resources and also a need to place the item in the consumers possession rapidly.
Elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions and/or relative positioning of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of various embodiments of the present teachings. Also, common but well-understood elements that are useful or necessary in a commercially feasible embodiment are often not depicted in order to facilitate a less obstructed view of these various embodiments of the present teachings. Certain actions and/or steps may be described or depicted in a particular order of occurrence while those skilled in the art will understand that such specificity with respect to sequence is not actually required. The terms and expressions used herein have the ordinary technical meaning as is accorded to such terms and expressions by persons skilled in the technical field as set forth above except where different specific meanings have otherwise been set forth herein.